Cinnamon Swirl Bread

I love a good piece of toast, slathered in butter and sprinkled with a mound of cinnamon and sugar. Imagine this delicacy on a piece of cinnamon bread. Heaven!

Or you could use it to make the most AMAZING french toast, as I did here. I do recommend leaving out the raisins if you are going to make french toast though.

This cinnamon swirl bread is absolutely delicious. I know that I will be making it again. It freezes well and makes for a great breakfast or midnight snack.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread (Print)
from Taste of Home
Prep: 30 + rising / Bake: 30-40 minutes
Yield: 2 loaves

5-1/4 to 5-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups quick oats
2/3 cup nonfat dry milk powder
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 packages (4-1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast
3 teaspoons salt
2-1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons butter
1 egg
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 cups flour, oats, milk powder, brown sugar, yeast, and salt. In a small saucepan, heat water and butter over medium heat until 120-130 degrees. Add to dry ingredients, beat just until moistened. Add egg; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a firm dough. Stir in raisins.

2. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double, about 1 hour.

3. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half with a pizza cutter. Roll each portion into an 18-in. x 9-in. rectangle. Combine sugar and cinnamon. Set aside 2 tablespoons for topping. Sprinkle remaining cinnamon and sugar over rectangles to within 1/2 in. of edges. Roll up, starting on the short side; pinch seams to seal.

4. Place seam side down into two greased 9-inch loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Sprinkle with reserved cinnamon and sugar.

5. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown. Cover loosely with foil if tops brown too quickly. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

My Favorite Things No. 6

I wrote about my new tea kettle in this post, and told you that I won a giveaway from CNS stores. I was also able to purchase this handy kitchen timer with that prize too! In my kitchen wishlist, I mentioned that I wanted a kitchen timer, because I have had to use my microwave until now. This was tricky sometimes, as the microwave only beeps once, making it easy for me to not hear it! Other times I would need to cook something in the microwave while the timer was going, so then I would have to stop the timer and try to keep track of the remaining time in my head!

Check out this little beauty! It can do three timers all at once, how cool is that?! And once the time is over, it starts counting up to let you know how long the timer has been going off. It is magnetic, a feature that I was definitely excited about. It also has a clock. I'm very happy with my little timer!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas from the beautiful state of Iowa! Take time to pause and remember why we all celebrate; the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas!

Cheesy Potato Casserole

I made this recipe for our Thanksgiving meal. My family has been enjoying it on the holidays for several years and it is always a big hit. This is a popular potluck dish, but I can promise you that I have never had a version as good as this one. And trust me, I'm a potato expert.

Cheesy Potato Casserole (Print)
from my sister
Prep: 20 minutes / Bake: 45 minutes
Yield: 12 servings

For the casserole
30 ounce bag frozen hash browns, defrosted
1/2 cup white onion, chopped
1 cup milk
1 cup sour cream
1 large/family size cream of chicken condensed soup (you won't use it all)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups (8 ounces) cheddar cheese, shredded (or more if you like!)

For the topping
2 cups crushed corn flakes
1/2 cup melted butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the casserole ingredients in order and mix well. About the cream of chicken soup: you won't need all the soup. You will probably only need 16-20 ounces of it. Basically, decide how creamy you want the casserole. I would err on the side of too little if you can. I suppose you could just get 2 small cans of soup, but I like the freedom of the big can I guess.

2. Spread casserole ingredients into a 9-inch x 13-inch baking dish. Mix the crushed corn flakes and butter; put on top. Bake for 45 minutes, or until center is hot and bubbly.

3. You can also make this casserole a day ahead. If so, skip the corn flakes topping and cover the dish with foil. Keep it in the refrigerator until 30 minutes before you need to bake it. Let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes, if possible, before baking. Top with corn flakes and bake as directed.